President of France Emmanuel Macron has called Nahel”s killing “Untenable”, but his administration is still stating that it was an exceptional incident and not more than that.
The Riots that started last week in Paris, the Capital of France, had severe repercussions not only in other cities of France but also in other countries of Europe. While the incident of police killing of a 17 year old boy may have been the immediate cause of the riots in France, we cannot neglect the fact that the long standing Racial Discrimination in Europe’s most ethnically diverse country is at the root cause of the violence. Although now the riots have been controlled, however, if a permanent solution to the issue of Racial Discrimination is not found, such violent outbreaks will continue to happen over and over again.
Actual Cause Behind Outbreak of Riot
A 17 year old boy named Nahel was shot dead by a Traffic Policeman in the suburb of Paris named Nanterre. The police department of Paris claimed that Nahel’s car was purposely driven on the Bus Lane. Despite being told to stop he sped away, endangering the lives of many pedestrians and cyclists. When Nahel had to stop due to a traffic jam, the police asked him to switch off the engine of his car. Even after that, he tried to run the car and only then the police shot him. Nahel died on the spot after a bullet was shot in his chest. After this incident riots broke out in France. Other than Paris, violent protests broke out in other cities of France such as Leon, Starsbourg, Maze, St.Etienne. Presently, in order to deal with the situation, nearly fifty thousand police have been deployed all over France and more than three thousand rioters are arrested till date.
Is Colonial Mentality Responsible for Riots?
Nahel’s Mother is from Algeria and his father has his roots in Morocco, which is why most ‘progressive’ Frenchmen believe that Nahel was shot by the police without a second thought. They believe that the reason for such action against him is that he belongs to African-American descent. Many incidents that have happened in the past are also responsible for this perception of the progressive French people. In fact France is the most Ethnically Diverse country as far as Europe is concerned. Just like Britain, France too has many colonies in Africa (Algeria being one of them) and hence its citizens have settled in France for many generations. Besides, racial oppression and violent outbursts are not new for France. In 2005 France was smoldering for three whole weeks. Two alleged ‘black’, young boys were hiding in a power station from police, but unfortunately they died due to electrocution, and the incident eventually caused sparking protests across France in 2005. The then French President Jacques Chirac had no other alternative but to declare Emergency. So many years after that incident, if France is yet witnessing another such similar incident then, clearly, there are no lessons learned.
Why is France Constantly accused of Racial Discrimination?
According to the Statistics, majority of civilians that are killed by police in France in recent years have been either Arabs or what the west terms as ‘Blacks’. In 2022 total 13 people were killed in incidents of shooting by traffic police in France. Similarly, in the current year 3 people were shot down and killed by France’s Traffic Police. Incidents of police killings of common citizens regularly happen in maximum countries, but how come the number of black individuals amongst other civilians killed in France is surprisingly high? This is an obvious question that should be asked and that is why the police of France are being constantly accused of Racial Discrimination. Now Nahel’s death has once again opened the gates of bottled up mob anger against French Police.
‘The Black Lives Matter’ Movement gained momentum first in the US and further elsewhere in the world, after the death of George Floyd. Similarly, now Nahel’s death has led countless citizens of France and Europe, to take it to the streets against police brutality towards non-white citizens. But the most unjustifiable thing is that instead of finding a permanent solution to this problem, the French government is just doing some temporary repairs.
Exactly, what is the role of the French Government?
French President Emmanuel Macron has called Nahel’s killing “Untenable”, but his administration is still stating that it was an exceptional incident and not more than that. This thing is absolutely disturbing, especially for a progressive society like that of France. But one thing is certain that these frequent occurrences make it clear that the ethnic diversity existing in France is only physical in nature and not reflected in the behavior of the government and administration. On the contrary, some European scholars say that they want Foreigners to adopt French Culture as it is. However, the poorest class in France are the displaced and migrated people. The government has so far made very little efforts to improve their economic condition.
It is also to be noted that along with France, many European countries still do not seem to have come out of the ‘colonial mindset’ and such Incidents in Europe and America can be avoided only if they reject this ‘COLONIAL MINDSET’.
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